Have you ever been somewhere where you were absolutely dying to sit down after being on your feet for too long, but couldn't find anywhere appropriate to rest your behind? Being a slave to the latest shoe fashion, I face this scenario at least three times a week. Thankfully, the RFID Robotic Chair is a new concept which could make standing a thing of the past (well ok, not really but it definitely brings us one step closer to that utopia).
Dutch designer Jelte van Geest is the brains behind the Robotic Chair which follows people around a room and stops when you do, so no matter where you are you will always be able to put up your feet. To operate the chair, you simply swipe an RFID-enabled card in front of the chair's sensor, which activates the chair to become your rather bulky shadow..
The chair is shown in action at the Openbare Bibliotheek in Eindhoven. After a person crosses a point near the check-out counter, the chair automatically turns around and takes itself back to a parking area, ready to become a devoted follower to another card holder.
For library employees, manual labour has just become a bit less manual as they can program a set number of chairs to arrange themselves in theatre-style rows, ready for an audience to a presentation.
Granted, I seem to be obsessed with finding gadgets that follow you around to minimise exercise (the shaddow caddy) but as soon I as see something like this, I can't help but sit back (on the chair I like to have on hand) and think this is the way life should be.
2 thoughts on “The RFID Robotic Chair: You May Want to Sit Down For This”
There’s something quite cute yet also a little unnerving about that – I don’t think I would like being followed around by anything like that continually all the time.
Could prove a lot of fun though – what happens if you swipe your card against two of them – do they battle it out between them?
When you swipe your card against more than one, they seem to follow you around in a nice, orderly fashion and stop neatly next to each other (like the good little chairs they are!).
Perhaps if you got three going at the same time you’d then be able to lie down and take a nap in the middle of the library?